Bruce Tretter | Gotta Eat, Can't Cook

Posts Tagged ‘Bruce Tretter’

October 31st, 2019

Blog, Cycling, Education, Mind Food

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The Magic of the Unexpected Abounds

Way too long since I said I’d laid down part 3 to the Cycling Unexpected Magic series I started in September. And here it is, Halloween, an evening that abounds with magic.

But magic abounds everywhere. You bet, I felt it when I hopped on a rocket cool packed dirt trail from Concord to Bedford that my road bike and I managed more than just fine – and with a big smile. No doubt my biggest smile was seeing families, kids with moms and dads, riding the trail.

And then there’s magic of a totally different kind but just as – or even more – powerful, and that has to do with the second picture in the title banner above.

I don’t belong to or promote any traditional faith or religion. I believe in a collective consciousness and making the most of living in the present. But not too long ago, I think because of my membership as an elected representative to our town’s Westborough Diversity and Inclusion Committee, I was asked to check out an interfaith organization that was just getting off the ground. That group became the Central Massachusetts Connections in Faith (CMACIF) committee, a terrifically energetic collection of diverse people of diverse faiths and opinions focused, entirely positively, on building bridges & friendships across cultures.

To do that, we facilitate events featuring individual faith groups and what and how they practice their faith followed by round table discussions with all those who attend. Our next event is an afternoon/evening with a movie, “Free Trip to Egypt”, that airs at 4 PM this Saturday, Nov. 2, to be followed by a discussion and dinner all at the Worcester Islamic Center in Worcester, MA, as shown below.

If you’re local to Worcester, CMACIF and I most heartedly invite you to attend. If you’re not local to Worcester and Central Massachusetts, think of the magic an event like the one we’ll have this Saturday could have where you live – and I’m glad to lend a hand (bruce@gotta-eat.com/508-446-7790).

September 17th, 2019

Blog, Cycling, Cycling Food

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Cycling and Magic of the Unexpected, Part 2: Concord Cheese Shop

Stopping at The Cheese Shop in Concord is really part 1 of this story for a couple of good reasons. First, they’re the ones who recommended Hutchin’s Farm when I asked for a local farm stand that sells fresh basil. Second, I stopped at the cheese shop on the way to Hutchin’s last Saturday to provide feedback on Mimolette cheese I’d recently bought that wasn’t nearly as flavorful as the same name of cheese I’d bought a while back.

Mimolette cheese

There’s a story to the cheese. Years ago, around 2013, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) determined that Mimolette cheese had too many microscopic mites in the cheese rind when brought to market. The FDA’s concern: those mites could cause allergic reactions among consumers. Now, the reason for cheesemakers introducing artisan mites to Mimolette cheese is that the mites eat molds on that cheese rind to impart a distinct flavor to the cheese as it ages. And though those mites are vacuumed or air and hand blasted off the rind when the cheese is prepared for sale, some of microscopic mites inherently remain on the rind.

When the cheese industry asked the FDA for a ruling on a tolerable number of mites, they were told at first that the FDA didn’t really know. The FDA then came up a number; the cheese had to have fewer than 6 mites per square inch on the rind. Again these are microscopic mites. I’d love not to be the person counting those bad boys.

Fortunately, after quite a bit of back and forth, the cheese is back on the US market. The only problem for me after looking so much forward to tasting the cheese after years of it not being available was flavor. And when I expressed that to one of the Cheese Shop managers, Steve, he told me that the real flavor difference in the cheese comes from aging. The cheese I’d bought recently had probably only aged 12 months, whereas the cheese I’d had years ago was probably aged 24 months. Those added 12 months make a big difference

I appreciated that information. Steve said he’d contact me when he had the longer aged cheese in stock. I gave him my business card and told him about this website geared entirely to enable people to empower themselves in the kitchen no matter how little cooking experience they have. Steve liked the idea and said maybe we could collaborate sometime. I’d love to! Again, a totally unexpected experience – all while on the bike.

Next post: The Unexpected Thrill of Trail Riding from Concord to Lexington

August 24th, 2019

Blog, Cycling, Cycling Food, Running Food

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Cycling and Magic of the Unexpected, Part One: Hutchin’s Farm

Open road; spinning legs; sights, sounds, smells, air temps that change on the fly: they’re all a big part of the thrill of cycling for me. And then there’s the magic of the unexpected.

Aside from the pure joy of spending most of the day on the road bike, my purpose last Saturday was to ride to Concord to make whole for an accidental $6 underpayment of fresh basil at Hutchin’s Farm just up the road from the historic Old North Bridge. (I only paid for 2 bunches and then realized when I got home that I was kindly, but unknown to me and the person who handed me the basil, given 2 clusters of 2 fresh bunches each when I visited the farm stand weeks ago.)

As soon as I hopped off the bike, after a gorgeous ride from Westborough to Concord, I explained to Brain Daubenspeck, one of the farm managers pictured below, what had happened and why I was there. The story gave him a smile. He insisted we were all square, and asked only that I tell people about the farm. Telling about the all organic farm, which I then visited the next day by car to buy – and pay correctly – for their incredibly fresh and flavorful produce, including another fresh bunch of basil, it is exactly what I’m doing here. Thanks very much, Brian. and thanks, Hutchin’s Farm! You bet, I’ll be back again soon.

Next post – Part 2: Concord Wine & Cheese Shop and Mimolette Cheese

July 21st, 2019

Blog, Special Recipes

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Summer Favorites: Tour de France and Fresh Basil Pesto

The Tour de France: my signature summer sports spectator event. Fresh pesto: my signature summer fantastically flavorful and versatile food favorite that I call “summer butter”. I have pesto in my fridge, in the freezer, and always ready to use with pasta and grains, as a sandwich spread, with chicken or fish, on freshly cooked or uncooked vegetables (absolute killer on freshly cooked corn on the cob) – just about anything. Great stuff!

Here are the ingredients and…

Rip Fast Tour de France 2019, Stage 2, and Crepes with Nut Butter, Fruit and More

The stage 2 of the 2019 Tour de France was a rip fast 27.6 kilometer (17,15 miles) time trial in Brussels, Belgium, won by Mike Teunissen, Saturday’s stage 1 winner, and his Jumbo Visma team with a 28:57 time (average 57, 20 kilometers/hour or 35.5 mph), That time was an incredible 20 seconds faster than Team Ineos, (formerly, last year’s Tour winner, Geraint Thomas, and 4-time Tour winner, Chris Froome, Team Sky) and 21 seconds faster than Team Deceuninck-QuickStep. Jumbo-Visma’s time, to say the least, was scary fast!

Now, for us mortal’s, having something good to eat to fuel us before a good hop in the saddle, run, or anything active, is most important. Here’s a favorite breakfast of mine, especially when the Tour’s on: fresh crepes topped with nut butter, cooked fruit topping, mixed grains,… Read more »

May 12th, 2019

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Cycling Food, Dessert, Fitness Food, How To & Tips, Nuts

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Easy Chopped Nuts Picture Directions

Last post mentioned that I’d next show how to make a mix of chopped nuts and ground flaxseed that I use with much more than the Bell Pepper with Cilantro Pesto-Hummus and Cheese I showed how to make. As a first step, though, I thought I’d show here how to chop nuts as quickly and easily as possible.

Nuts are a fantastic source of plant-based protein and healthy fats. I put them in cereal, with fruit and yogurt, in salads, with pasta or grains, and much more. The only thing to watch for with nuts is that they are packed with calories. Moderation is key.

And, that’s why I find it best to use chopped nuts exactly as needed instead of having a bag of those same nuts at my side to feed from, which I certainly have done – and paid for dearly.

There are two ways I chop nuts: with a food processor (preferred) or with a coffee grinder (fine for small amount but takes a bit of care).

Here’s how to chop nuts with a food processor. Use the S-shaped processor blade as shown in the top picture below and add as many nuts as needed to the food processor.

Close the processor top and turn on the processor for about 10 seconds until the nuts look about as shown in the bottom left picture.

To chop nuts in a coffee grinder, which works fine for small amounts, add nuts to the coffee grinder,…

…close the top, keep the top held firmly in place, and shake the grinder while keeping the grinder on for 5 or so seconds.

Make sure to unplug the grinder from the outlet, and then scoop out the chopped nuts as well as possible – without making yourself, well, nuts. Grinding your next batch of coffee with do a great job cleaning the grinder.

Store the chopped nuts in the refrigerator, where they will keep fresh for at least a few weeks – as long as the nuts you used were fresh when you chopped them.

April 23rd, 2019

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Beans, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Vegetables

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Quick Bell Pepper, Cilantro Pesto-Hummus, and Cheese – All in Pictures

Last post showed how to make fresh Cilantro Pesto-Hummus, a combination of cilantro pesto and hummus. Great stuff to lay on bread, toss with pasta or grains, mix with cooked vegetables, top on salads, and much more. Imagination is your only limit. Here’s a link to that recipe.

What you see above is a quick fresh meal I put together last night: bell pepper, “pummus”, and cheese. I started with 1/3 fresh orange bell pepper that I sliced into thick strips just so the pepper would spread out mostly flat on a plate. I then laid on a good spread of pummus and topped that with some leftover cooked grains (pearl barley, stone cut oats, and quinoa). For sure, what made this dish so quick for me to put together was having most of the ingredients already pre-made. Please use what you see below as a guide. That’s exactly what I do with just about every recipe I come across.

Next, I spread out a good layer of shredded mozzarella and provolone cheese and put the plate in the microwave oven for 1 minute at 100% power – just long enough to start melting the cheese.

After that quick warm in the microwave, I topped the pepper, cilantro pesto-hummus, and cheese with a good pour of fresh ginger cilantro kefir salad dressing, which you can either see how to make by clicking either this link or the picture below or just use your own favorite salad dressing.

I finished by adding a good blast of chopped hot peppers (jalapeños shown here), chopped fresh cilantro,…

…chopped sun-dried tomatoes, a good shot of kefir, and a mix of chopped nuts and ground flaxseed (I make a jar of nuts and flax every week – very easy & versatile – I’ll show how to do that next time I make it.)

Now make it yours & enjoy!

April 8th, 2019

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Beans, Blog, Snacks, Special Recipes

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Cilantro Pesto-Hummus Picture Book Recipe

I’m a big fan of rich basil-flavored pesto and cilantro infused hummus. The “pummus” (pesto + hummus) recipe you see here combines those flavors by substituting fresh cilantro for fresh basil and then really pumping up the herb flavor of bean-based hummus.

Here’s what you need to make pummus, which goes great with vegetables, on pasta, with rice, on bread – your imagination is your only limit.

Click any picture on this page for an easy-to-follow picture book recipe.

April 3rd, 2019

Blog, Cooking Technique, Fitness Food, Grains, How To & Tips

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Microwave Cooked Quinoa Alfredo – Fast and Flavorful

Last post showed how to microwave oven cook quinoa. Like rice and pasta, quinoa, with it’s nutty flavor and snap-and-pop texture is incredibly versatile

Here’s one of my favorite fast and flavorful quinoa meals: microwave cooked quinoa Alfredo, Read more »

March 31st, 2019

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Grains, How To & Tips

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Microwave Cooked Quinoa Picture Book Directions

Quinoa (spelled as is but sounds like “Keen-Wah”) is killer excellent for nutrition, flavor, and versatility. Have it as is, add it to yogurt, use it instead of pasta or rice. Here’s how I’m having it now: combined with steel cut oats, bulgar wheat to make a multi-grain pancake covered with a fresh fruit topping, almond butter, a good shot of kefir, a squirt of honey – and a bucket of coffee (did I mention coffee?) – before rippin’ out for a gorgeous early spring Sunday road ride.